Early response to the farm bill has been mostly positive as farm organizations weigh in on the bipartisan proposal passed out of the Senate Agriculture Committee Tuesday.

“The newly passed Senate bill is similar to what they passed last year, except this version provides the option for both price loss protection and revenue for all crops except cotton, which is important to many of the other Southern crops,” Says Steve Verett, executive vice-president, Plains Cotton Growers, Inc., Lubbock. “For cotton, it's the same provisions as last year –the Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX) without a reference price.

“The House Ag Committee mark, as last year, provides price loss protection as well as revenue as a choice for all crops except cotton, and with higher levels of price loss protection than the Senate bill,” he adds.